Stanford Lives by Pass and Dies by the Run Against Texas, 38-34

Texas’ wishbone offense and Stanford’s high-flying aerial show ran up nearly 1,000 yards, but the game came down to one play that didn’t work.

It came after Texas tailback Charles Hunter’s second touchdown, a burst of three yards with 3:55 left, had given the Longhorns a 38-34 lead Saturday, and after Stanford quarterback John Paye, who finished with 365 yards passing, completed three passes to the Texas 42.

The play that didn’t work was a run on fourth and two. It went for a three-yard loss and enabled Texas to take over on its 37, run out the clock and preserve the 38-34 victory.

Before the fourth-down play, Stanford had run the ball three times.

“We had several options on the fourth down, and we chose the wrong play,” Stanford Coach Jack Elway said. “They didn’t do what I thought they would do. Before the ball was snapped, and there was no man in motion, I knew it wasn’t going to work. I would love to do it all over again.”

Texas Coach Fred Akers said: “It looked to me like the team with the ball in the final minutes would probably win it. I’m just glad that this long day is over.”

Texas (2-0) gained 527 yards--380 rushing and 147 passing. Stanford (1-2) finished with 448 yards.

David Sweeney’s 22-yard field goal put Stanford ahead for the first time, 34-31, with 8:36 left.

It was 31-31 early in the fourth quarter after Paye passed to Jeff James for a 25-yard touchdown and handed off to Brad Muster for a two-point conversion. The touchdown was set up by a 44-yard gain on a pass from Payne to Greg Paty.

After Texas rolled to a 24-10 halftime lead before a crowd of about 53,000, Stanford scored two touchdowns in the third quarter to close the gap to 24-23. Stanford would have tied it but missed an extra-point try.

Paye scored on a sneak a few inches from the goal line on the opening drive of the second half and later scrambled for 24 yards to set up his touchdown pass to Muster. However, Sweeney missed the extra-point attempt.

Texas scored in the first half on three big plays: a 74-yard run by starting quarterback Bret Stafford on the third play of the game; a 55-yard touchdown pass play from Todd Dodge to Donovan Pitts, and a 62-yard run by Darron Norris.